Funding in Latin American startups has surged in recent years. Much of the spotlight has been on Brazil, the region’s largest country. But startups in Mexico have also increasingly attracted investor interest.
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Just yesterday, Konfío, an online financial services platform for small and medium businesses (SMBs) in Mexico, announced it had raised $100 million in a Series D round led by SoftBank Group.
With that round, according to Crunchbase data, venture funding in Mexico has more than doubled in 2019 so far to $541 million across 106 deals. That’s 104.4 percent more than the $264.7 million invested in 134 rounds in 2018, and a staggering 360 percent increase from the $117.6 million raised across 140 rounds raised in 2017.
It is important to note that the 2019 figure will likely be even higher as it is subject to reporting delays.
It is also notable that far more money was raised across 28 fewer rounds in 2019 compared to the year prior. This signals a maturing market with larger deal sizes.
Deal Details and Fintech Overall
Sweden’s Vostok Emerging Finance also participated in Mexico City-based Konfio’s latest round, along with other existing investors QED and Kaszek Ventures. The financing brings five-year-old Konfio’s total raised to over $400 million across four venture rounds and several debt financing structures, according to Crunchbase data.
Fintech startups in particular have been recipients of venture dollars in Latin America considering the high interest rates and lack of credit access across much of the region. Konfio describes itself as “an online lending platform that helps micro-businesses in Latin America who don’t have access to credit obtain affordable loans, thanks to a proprietary algorithm that uses technology to measure creditworthiness.”
By using AI and data analytics, the company targets “underserved businesses,” including those without any formal credit history. It claims that since January 2017, Mexican companies across all industries that have received working capital loans from Konfio have grown sales by 28 percent on average.
Other recent recipients of venture funding in Mexico include Klar, a Mexico City-based startup that wants to democratize banking services in Mexico, which raised $57.5 million in debt and equity seed funding in October with the goal of becoming the ”Chime of Mexico,” among other things. Also in August, Mexico City-based fintech startup Credijusto raised $42 million in a Series B that was co-led by Goldman Sachs PSI and Point72 Ventures.
Image courtesy Isai Catmat via Unsplash
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